Onkar Singh

Top officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation refused to confirm or deny reports appearing in some leading national dailies, which said that one of the hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight, IC-814, was spotted in Nepal last week.

"We are in no position to tell you whether the reports are true. We have seen the reports and are investigating the matter," said a top CBI officer connected with the hijack investigation.

According to some reports, sleuths of the Intelligence Bureau spotted a person bearing a striking resemblance to one of the hijackers in Kathmandu's main market. But, before they could catch up with him, he disappeared into the crowd.

The intelligence agencies are certain the man was one of the hijackers, so the CBI team investigating the case has sent some agents to Nepal to check it out. They, however, doubt the veracity of the report because Interpol has issued red-corner alerts for the seven accused persons and it is unlikely that one of them would surface in Nepal after knowing that the CBI is looking for them.

The intelligence agencies have also alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI has registered a separate case against the hijackers as one of the passengers, Jeanne Moore, is an American. Both India and the United States have asked Pakistan to arrest all the hijackers and hand them over so that criminal proceedings can be launched against them.

The CBI officers said Gajendra Tarmarkar, one of the Nepalese passengers who had initially been named as one of the hijackers, had never participated in the crime. "We checked and rechecked his credentials. According to our information, this man is essentially a trader who keeps going to Kashmir to get shawls, etc, and sells them in Nepal. He is also into some film-making business," the sources said.

Series Design: Dominic Xavier

The Hijack: One Year On